


The Silver Shimmer

by Masterless



Category: Eyewitness (US TV)
Genre: M/M, SO, but I lost the plot, here you go, this was meant to be longer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-30
Updated: 2017-01-30
Packaged: 2018-09-21 00:20:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9522644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masterless/pseuds/Masterless
Summary: Lukas goes back to the Waldenbeck's summer beach house with his friends expecting a normal few weeks, but instead is reunited with a mysterious childhood friend.The mermaid fic that no one asked for!





	

“Dad,” Lukas said hesitantly. His dad was sat in front of the tv, an undrunk glass of scotch in his hand. “I wanted to ask you something.”

“And what's that?” Bo was in a good mood, which Lukas was happy for.

“Well, you know that beach house on Cape Code that you own?”

“Yeah?”

“Could, uh… could I go over the summer break? With Rose and Dennis and Sam?”

“Sam’s a girl, right?”

“Yeah, she and Dennis are siblings.”

“Okay. When you planning on going and for how long? I want the house the last two weeks in August, I gotta get it ready for renting over the winter.”

“I was thinking a week after school got out until that first week in August?” Lukas never really understood why people would rent a house on the Cape over the winter, it wasn't good water weather.

“Okay. You gotta keep it clean, keep it looking good. You mess anything up and I will make you pay for it, you understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

Lukas went up to his room to text all of his friends, calm and collected on the outside, but excited as fuck on the inside. They got permission!!

Maybe we can finally hook up there ;p, Rose texted. You've been so patient, I think it's time.

Lukas gulped. The thing was, he loved Rose, he did. He just didn't want to sleep with her.

***

He should be excited, right? He was, in a way. He was excited to be going to Cape Cod with his friends, excited to get the fuck out of Tivoli, excited to spend almost two months away from his dad. He wasn't excited that his girlfriend wanted to have sex. He wasn't excited that his girlfriend, who he loved very much, wanted to put his dick inside of her… well, the part of her he hadn't even thought about before.

God, the fuck is wrong with me? Lukas though. 

“Yo, Lukas, stop thinking so hard,” Dennis said from the backseat. “I can hear it.”

“Yeah,” Sam echoed. “Chill.”

Lukas forced a laugh. “Yeah, chill. Savage.”

Rose took his hand and intertwined their fingers. She hummed along with the music, the scent of her shampoo drifting around the cabin of his dad's truck.

“I can't believe your dad is letting us do this!” Dennis exclaimed for the umpteenth time. “This is so cool! We’re gonna meet so many hot chicks, and they're all gonna be mine!”

Lukas shook his head, carefully pulling into the Waldenbeck's Cape Cod beach house driveway. They all shuffled in, checking which rooms were what, where the kitchen was, where the bathrooms were. 

“We should definitely host a killer party here tonight, dude!” Dennis cried. “This place is banging!”

“No,” Lukas enforced. “If we wreck one tiny little thing in this house, my dad’ll have all our necks, you hear?”

Dennis shrugged him, mumbling his whatever's. 

“Let's go swimming!” Sam suddenly spoke, already down from picking her shared room with Rose, already in her bikini.

“Yeah!” 

And so they rushed around the house, pulling on swim trunks and slathering in sunscreen. Lukas may be a country boy, but he was still pale as fuck.

***

They had been swimming for hours when Lukas spotted him. The brown haired boy swimming up and down near the end of the peer. He looked worried, with a furrowed brow and pouting lips. Even so, Lukas thought he looked beautiful. There was just something about him, about how the reflection off the water lit up his face, about how his hair, even though it was wet, looked exceptionally soft. He kept ducking under the water, then resurfacing a few feet away from where he went under. His shoulders were tense.  
“What are you looking at, babe?”

Lukas started, turning around to see Rose swimming up to him, Her hair hung like limp seaweed around her face.

“Nothing, just…” Lukas turned to see if the boy was still there. He was, but he was staring straight back at Lukas, eyes wide. “Him.”

Rose looked in the direction Lukas was pointing, and her face scrunched up in distaste. “Why is he here? I thought you said was your dads place?”

Lukas rolled his eyes, facing Rose again. “It’s his land, but he doesn’t own the water, Rose. The guy can swim wherever he wants.”

“Whatever,” Rose mumbled, sneering in the boy’s direction. “Just make sure he doesn’t come any closer, yeah? He looks creepy.”

Creepy? Lukas shook his head as she swam away. There was nothing creepy about the boy at the end of the dock. Lukas set off in his direction, just to tell him that Rose didn’t want him to swim any closer, but when he reached his destination, he couldn’t see the brunet.

Lukas heard something surface near him, and suddenly there was a pair of strong around wrapped around his shoulders, and a laughing voice in his ear.

“Lukas!” the voice chuckled. “I haven’t seen you in years!”

Lukas looked deeply at the boy in front of him, warm brown eyes staring just as deeply back. The boy had a smile stretching his pouty lips, genuine happiness on his face.

“Ph-Philip?” Lukas asked.

“No,” Philip answered sarcastically. “My name is Juan.” He laughed. “Of course it’s me, dumbass.”

Lukas was quickly flooded with memories of the last time he had gone to the house on the beach. He had been seven, it was just after his mom had died, and his dad thought that maybe it was a good idea for them to get away from Tivoli. The whole house had smelt like her and Lukas had hated the trip, until four days before he had to leave. He had found a small brunet boy swimming at the end of the dock at the back of the house, a flash of something silver following him wherever he went. Lukas and the boy, Philip, had clicked as soon as they started talking, and on the day Lukas was leaving, he begged and begged his dad to stay just a little longer, he wanted to say goodbye to Philip.  
Lukas sat by the dock until six thirty that evening, getting more and more worried that something had happened to his friend. Suddenly, he felt someone with him, and he looked down into the water, smiling, to see Philip, bloodied and crying, hugging the dock post.

“Dad!” Lukas screamed, causing his father to run out of the house, towards his son.

“Lukas! What’s wrong?” he cried, dropping to his knees in front of his son, hands searching for injuries.

“No, dad, it’s not me- it’s Philip!” Lukas pointed down into the water, and jumped when his dad let out a shocked yell. 

Bo had jumped into the water, pulling the brown haired boy to the shore. “Lukas, go into the house and call 9-1-1.”

Lukas hadn’t known what became of the boy his dad saved from the water until now. Philip, older and prettier, was swimming right next to him, blood-free and smiling. To be honest, Lukas had thought it had been a grief induced dream.

“You… you’re okay,” Lukas mumbled.

Philip frowned, his eyes searching Lukas’ face. It must have dawned on him, because his face sobered quickly. “Yeah, I’m okay.” He smiled again, and it was like the whole beach got brighter. “You’re here!” He swam in a circle around Lukas, and the blond boy noticed that the strange silver thing that had followed Philip when he swam was still there. “You’re back!”

Lukas laughed, turning to follow Philip with his eyes. “Yeah, I’m here. I-”

“Lukas!” It was Rose again. “Did you tell him?”

Lukas jumped again, turning to shoot a startled glare at Rose.

“Who’s that?”

“Oh, she’s…” Lukas cleared his throat, embarrassed all of a sudden. “That’s Rose. My girlfriend.”

Philip’s eyes snapped to Lukas. “Girlfriend?”

Lukas nodded, pulling an awkward face. “Yep.”

Philip nodded along with Lukas. “So, uh… What did she want you to tell me.”

“She, uh. She doesn’t want you swimming any closer than this. She thinks you look creepy.” Lukas blushed and looked down at the murky water.

“She thinks I’m creepy?” Philip laughed a little. “Well, she probably won’t like that we’re friends.”

“Yeah,” Lukas chuckled. “Do you wanna meet her? And my other friends?”

Philip nodded. “Sure.”

“Savage.”

Philip swam over to the end of the dock, where he grabbed onto the wood and hauled himself up. There was a bright flash, which Lukas thought was the sudden reappearance of the sun from behind a cloud reflecting off the water, and Philip was stood on the dock, dripping water and grinning down at Lukas. 

“You gonna stare at me all day?” he asked.

Lukas laughed “You wish.”

Philip shrugged. “Kinda.”

Lukas laughed again, hauling himself out of the water to stand by Philip. Above the water, Lukas could see the silver scars raked across Philip’s stomach and up his left side. His arm was a crisscross of smooth and puckered lines, some faded and some a soft pink that would never fade.

“So, uh… What happened?” Lukas asked, nodding his head at the scars.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just come across an angry shark.” Philip smiled and started to walk away, leaving a flubbering Lukas in his wake. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends?”

Lukas ran after him, feeling the wet sand squidge between his toes. He knew he’d be finding sand in places he didn’t know he could get sand for the next few weeks.

“Guys!” he yelled, gathering his collected three friends. “I want you to meet someone.”

Dennis, Sam, and Rose converged around him and Philip, who was stood a little to the side.

“This is Philip,” Lukas said, gesturing to him. “He’s an old friend of mine.”

Rose rolled her eyes and shook her head, but Dennis shook his hand and Sam smiled blindingly at him.

“You gonna party with us tonight?” Dennis asked. “Lukas doesn’t want us to, but I’m sure that after he’s sampled some of my special green that he’ll be more chilled about it.” 

“Dude, you did not bring weed!” Lukas snapped, but he knew that Dennis had. “If that stuff stinks out the house, you’re the one my dad’s gonna kill.”

“How is Bo?” Philip asked.

“He’s fine,” Lukas answered hesitantly. “You know. Like all dads.”

Philip nodded. “I don’t have a dad.”

Dennis raised his eyebrows and hid a laugh behind a cough. “Dude, oversharing much.”

Lukas glared at him, shaking his head. “Come on, let's go inside and get something to eat.”

***

Philip had a pained look on his face and he kept scratching at his legs.

“You okay?” Lukas whispered to him. They were all sat around a campfire Dennis had built outside the house, back down on the beach.

Philip nodded, folding his legs up underneath him. “I'm okay.”

Lukas didn't believe him, but didn't push him. “You wanna borrow a sweatshirt? You're still just in your trunks.”

Philip smiled. “That would be nice thank you.”

Lukas left to grab him one. On the way past Rose, she shot him a dirty look, glaring in Philip’s direction. He motioned for her to follow. Once inside, Lukas crossed his arms, mimicking the angry posture Rose had adopted.

“What?” he asked. “Why are you so mad?”

Rose scoffed and shook her head. “Can't you see how far gone on you he is? Lukas, he's in love with you!”

Lukas laughed, but felt a fluttering in his tummy. “Rose, we haven't spoken since we were seven, and he's been here for a few hours. Even if he does like me I don't think he's in love with me.”

Rose lifted an eyebrow. “So you're okay with some gay guy crushing on you?”

Lukas blushed but frowned. “Since when do you care about someone's sexuality? Wasn't you who gave that speech at school about equality?”

The angry look on Rose’s face for worse. “I don't like it when people, gay, straight, or whatever, are crushing on my boyfriend!”

Lukas shook his head. “Babe, it's not like either of us can change how he feels. So what? Let him have his little crush, it's fine.”

Rose shook her head and looked at Lukas with a look his couldn't decipher. “Are you bi?”

Lukas was taken aback. “Am I what?”

“Bisexual. You know, you like both girls and guys? You wanna have sex with me, but also wouldn't mind having sex with a dude.”

Lukas blushed and his stomach cramped. Almost, he wanted to say. Just take out the sex with you part. “Babe, I don't want to do that.”

Rose raised both her eyebrows. “You don't wanna have sex with him? Or do you not wanna have sex with me? Because that's what this seems like.” She sighed and placed her hands gently on Lukas’ arms. “I know that I asked you to wait, and you have, but now that I'm ready, you don't want to have sex.”

Lukas’ head was swimming. He didn't want to have sex with her, but he should want to. He shouldn't think about kissing some guy he hasn't seen since he was seven, no matter how hot the guy was all grown up.

“Lukas?”

“Maybe I'm not ready!” Lukas blurted. “Did you ever think of that? Maybe I'm not ready to have sex.”

Rose was startled, but let out a snort. “All you and Dennis talk about is girls and sex. How are you not ready?”

Now Lukas was mad. If he really was into girls like he knows he should be, but he still wasn't ready, he would feel pressured into doing something he didn't want to do. He felt pressured now to have sex, not only just with Rose, but in general.

“Rose, if you'd actually paid any attention to our conversations, you would hear that it's just Dennis going in and on about screwing girls and leaving them. I wouldn't do that, and I don't want to do that! I don't want to have sex with you!”

He had yelled it too loud. He heard the gentle murmur of conversation outside stop, and he felt eyes in him, even though those outside couldn't see them.   
Rose looked like she was going to cry, and Lukas felt like he was going to, too. He pushed past her further into the house, sprinted up to the room he had claimed for himself, and grabbed two sweatshirts from his open suitcase. He ran back down the stairs and outside, threw one of the shirts and Philip and mumbled, “Come on, let's go.”  
He didn't wait to see if Philip would follow, he just walked off down the beach. He heard someone call his name, but by then he couldn't even see the fire anymore. He was panting and furiously scrubbing at the tears in his eyes.

He thought he was alone until a soft hand slipped into his. He turned around, ready to yell at Rose again, think that she'd followed him, but it was Philip. He was quiet, like usual, and his brown eyes were wide with worry.

“What's going on?” he asked gently.

“I…” Lukas shook his head, sitting down in the sand and pulling Philip down with him. “I'm not supposed to feel this way.”

“What way?”

Lukas sighed and went to rub the tears from his eyes again but Philip took hold of that hand, too. 

“Stop. You let yourself cry, okay?”

Lukas looked up at him, at the almost luminescent tint to his skin. He nodded. “I'm not supposed to not want to have sex with my girlfriend. I'm not supposed to feel the way I do.”

“And how do you feel?” Philip’s voice had a soft sound to it, and Lukas felt both calmed by it and scared of it. He almost sounded unearthly gently, unearthly caring.

“I like…” Lukas sighed, sniffing. “I like guys. I don't like girls.”

Philip nodded, scooting a little closer to Lukas and wrapping his arm around the crying blond. “It doesn't matter what they think. You should be able to like who you like, okay?”

Lukas nodded, but was distracted by the warmth of Philip’s breath on his cheek. He smelt like sea salt and ash from the fire, his skin was warm where it touched Lukas’. He turned his head to look at the brown eyed boy, and saw that they were closer together than he had previously thought.

“Can I kiss you?” Lukas blurted.

Philip smiled and nodded.

Lukas didn't really know what to do. He’d kissed Rose a hundred times, probably more, but this was different. This was something he wanted to do. So, looking at Philip’s eyes one last time, he kissed him, slow and sweet and sad.

Philip’s lips were dry and warm and tasted like the sea. His skin was soft under Lukas’ finger when he lifted them to cup Philip's jaw. It kiss wasn't too heavy and it didn't go too deep, but Lukas felt drunk and high. He was giddy, and he laughed a little when they pulled away.

“I feel like I'm breaking the rules,” Lukas muttered.

“Can we break them some more?” Philip whispered.

Lukas smiled wide and nodded. He felt like this wasn't him, like this wasn't his life, so far away from Tivoli, and he didn't care about what anyone would say.

They spent most of the night laying in the sand, kissing gently, and eventually fell asleep.

***

Lukas woke up alone, panicking, and covered in sand. The waves were licking at his toes, the tide must have come in, and Lukas pulled his feet away, sitting with his legs tucked at his sides.

“Philip?” he called uncertainly.

He didn't get a response, but he saw a silver flash in the water, and suddenly Philip was there, swimming laps in the morning water. Lukas felt calmed watching him. He put his fingers to his lips, felt that they were still a little puffy from the night before, and decided to not think about anything that had happened and just watch Philip. The boy could swim, faster than anyone Lukas had ever seen. There was always a silver flash behind him, and Lukas wanted to know what it was. 

Standing up, Lukas noticed that the sweatshirt he had lent to Philip was neatly folded next to him, and soon the other one joined it. Lukas walked out until he couldn't walk anymore, and swam the rest of the distance to Philip.

“Good morning!” Philip greeted, slowing his swim and floating in front of his friend. He tried to kiss him but Lukas leaned away with a nervous laugh. 

“Someone could see us,” he whispered.

Philip looked disappointed but didn't say anything else.

“Why do you always seem to shine when you're in the water?” Lukas asked.

Philip frowned. “I don't understand what you're asking?”

Lukas sighed. “Well, whenever I see you swim, there's this silver shimmer where your trunks are, but you're a wearing green shorts, so… it's not them.”

Philip smiled and drifted closer to Lukas, whispered in his ear, “I'm not wearing trunks.”

Lukas blushed so hard he felt woozy. Philip pulled away and laughed, cupping Lukas’ cheeks and stealing a kiss before Lukas could react. 

“Dude!” Lukas sputtered. “You're naked?”

Philip nodded. Something brushed against Lukas’s foot, soft and light, almost like fabric. Looking down, Lukas didn't see a naked boy, but something other. A tail.

“What the fuck?” Lukas asked, dipping his head beneath the water. 

Where Philip’s hips should have turned to legs was a thick silver tail, tapering to an end with flowing fanlike fins. The scales on the tail were several different shades of silver, some darker, some lighter. The scars from Philip’s chest continued down onto the tail, and Lukas felt his head go light. He bobbed back up the surface, gasping for breath, and gaped at Philip.

“Is this some kind of joke?” Lukas asked.

Philip shook his head.

“But you had legs yesterday.”

Philip nodded. “I can do that, most sea folk can.”

“Wait, there’s more of you?”

Philip nodded. “You wanna see?”

Lukas shook his head. “I can’t breathe underwater.”

Philip shrugged and began pulling him beneath the water. “Come on. I’ll keep you safe.”

Lukas, now almost all the way under the water, could only hope Philip was telling the truth.

***

It had been ten years.

Bo stood in front of his beach house on the Cape, hands shaking slightly. It had been ten years since he had rushed down to the house after a frantic call from Rose, saying that she couldn’t find Lukas anywhere. Saying that Lukas had left the night before in an angry huff, taking some strange boy with him. No one in the town had seen either Lukas or Philip, and Bo eventually realised that his boy was gone.

Opening the front door, Bo steadied himself with a deep breath, and walked into the house. It smelt like dust and salt. Bo made quick work of cleaning the place up. The house was up for sale, and he needed to be there to sell it, had to be there to meet the potential buyers.

A loud laugh brought Bo out of his thoughts. It couldn’t be… but it had sounded so much like him.

Walking out of the house, Bo searched the beach, but saw no one.

There it was again, that laughed, and Bo looked out to sea, and saw, with a leap in his heart, Lukas.

He was ten years older, with shoulder length blond hair and laugh lines around his eyes. He was playing with a little girl in the surf, his lower body submerged in the water. She looked like him, but with chocolate brown eyes. Bo crept closer, unnoticed by his son.

When the tide went out, Bo stopped. Lukas, from the waist down, wasn’t how Bo remembered. Replacing his legs was a pale blue tale, which matched the tail on the little girl. Bo had thought she was wearing a costume.

“Lukas?” Bo let slip.

Lukas looked up with shock, face to face with his father once more.

“What…? What is this?” Bo asked.

“I…”  
There was a splash behind him. Philip had just surfaced, glaring at Bo and swimming ever closer to Lukas.

“Lukas, come on,” Philip said. “We shouldn’t be seen.”

“But…” Lukas looked back at Philip with a furrowed brow. “Philip, it’s my dad.”

Philip shook his head. “I’m sorry…”

Lukas took the girl in his arms and stood, now suddenly on human legs. He was wearing red trunks, and he was dripping wet as he made his way over to Bo. He was biting his lip and had a worried look on his face.

“Dad, this is Sally,” Lukas said. “She’s my daughter.”

Bo couldn’t speak.

“Lukas, we have to go,” Philip called softly.

Lukas nodded. “It was nice to see you again, dad.” He turned and went back to the water, slipping beneath the surface with a backwards glance to his dad.

Bo decided not to sell the house, and he spent at least two weeks a month there, growing old with his son and his son’s husband, and their daughter.


End file.
